I know there was a posting on this subject, but I couldn't locate it...

I keep my car in an underground locked apt. garage... I always lock it and check the door to be sure... When i went down this morning I found all the windows down, the sunroof open and the car unlocked... Thank God It was inside... and nothing was missing... Called the dealer and they said it's a bad lock control. It's going in on Monday. Now we can't even be sure our cars are going to stay locked... If it went bad once at 5000 miles what are the chances of it going bad again... The service mgr. said this part is located in the door... A couple of weeks ago service had to remove my door panels and flush them out because they were loaded with road salt... I just wonder if the salt is shorting out the lock/s or electronics... Not a happy camper.... Any thoughts guys???

Thanks for letting me vent...

Paul

 

Paul -- Hummmm, I think you're raising an issue that should be VERY alarming to us all. (Mods -- maybe this thread should be in the Under the Bonnet forum so that it gets the attention of those users who are more oriented to technical discussions?)

Based on your experience, a bit of my own, the previous post on this topic (yeah, I recall too), and the threads about (broadly) the "emergency boot release" it seems that there is considerable electronic control over the MINI's boot, door, etc. latches. With the doors in particular, opening and closing do not seem to be entirely mechanical processes! It seems possible that pulling the inside latch is more akin to throwing a switch than pulling a leaver. What this means -- and hence the alarm -- is that the battery and computer play a significant role in whether we can get into or out of our cars.

I find this very disconcerting. Sure, it'd be a bummer to find my car open like you did...but it'd be an even bigger bummer if I found that my doors wouldn't open if I were in my car and something went wrong with these electronics. Could we actually get locked into our cars by a malfunction? Previously, I'd thought not. But now I'm not so sure.

Is there anyone out there on MCO who knows the answer to this one? Has anyone sat in their car, locked their doors, disconnected the battery, and then subsequently tried to get OUT of the car? Sounds stupid, but maybe this is something we'd like to experiment with under controled circumstances before having it happen otherwise.

 

How about just turn off the "feature" that rolls the windows down and opens the sunroof when you hold down the unlock button? The car might still have been unlocked, but at least it wouldn't have been wide open as well.

By the way, what is the point of that "feature"? I know a lot of people swear by it, but I don't understand what the benefit is....

 

>>
>>Is there anyone out there on MCO who knows the answer to this one? Has anyone sat in their car, locked their doors, disconnected the battery, and then subsequently tried to get OUT of the car? Sounds stupid, but maybe this is something we'd like to experiment with under controled circumstances before having it happen otherwise.


this is a very good question and i'm curious to the answer
has anybody tried this experiment or has the answer?

 

>>How about just turn off the "feature" that rolls the windows down and opens the sunroof when you hold down the unlock button? The car might still have been unlocked, but at least it wouldn't have been wide open as well.
>>
>>By the way, what is the point of that "feature"? I know a lot of people swear by it, but I don't understand what the benefit is....

The purpose of this feature is to allow you to open and cool the vehicle before getting in when it is left out in the sun. For those in Arizona and the like who have commented on the inadequacies of the air conditioning in that climate it makes a lot of sense.

Keith Hamburger

 

I've had the battery disconected before and the results were I could not open the boot at all but the doors still opened. I do not have the feature programmed in for automatically opening the sunroof, etc. so I'm not sure if that would play any part.

 

>>I've had the battery disconected before and the results were I could not open the boot at all but the doors still opened. I do not have the feature programmed in for automatically opening the sunroof, etc. so I'm not sure if that would play any part.

Minimotorin:

Were the doors locked when you disconnected the battery and tried this? Also, were you trying to open them from the inside or outside?

Thanks for the info!

 

How about getting into the car and pressing the "lock" on the key, and then trying to get out of the car without using the key. You'll be completely stuck. I locked my girlfriend in the car accidently, and she couldn't get out. That freaked me out. (I'm not even mentoining her!)

The sunroof/windows thing is good in the summer, when you come up to the car and don't feel like climbing into an oven. It lets the hot air out right away.

 

If I'm not mistaken MINI has some saftey feature built in for accidents that if power is cut off the doors unlock automatically. Of course if you have some problem with the computer system will this work?

When I had my battery off I was opening the doors from outside. Can't remember if they had been locked prior or not, sorry.

 

>>How about getting into the car and pressing the "lock" on the key, and then trying to get out of the car without using the key. You'll be completely stuck. I locked my girlfriend in the car accidently, and she couldn't get out. That freaked me out. (I'm not even mentoining her!)
>>

when locking the girlfriend in the car, you should always crack a window to let some air in

 

I once had a 3 series and this happened to me all the time when we first got it. It turned out that we were near a construction site and the workers were using a two way radio that was on the same freqency as the remote transmiter was. They hooked it up to the computer and did whatever you do and fixed the problem. The guy said that radio stations, garage openers and walky talkies do this offten. Maybe thats the problem. Worth a try.

 

>>but really: she couldn't get out?

Even by flipping the toggle switch for the locks? I haven't tried this yet, but what's the sense of the toggle being disabled when you lock the doors with the key? That's just stupidity on the part of BMW, if it's the case.

 

Once you pressed the lock button on the key, there's absolutely NO WAY to get out of the car except to break a window. No toggle switches, no grabbing the little **** and trying to pull it up, nothing.

 

Nobul (1BadMINI), I like the sig, but you should make the weels spin on the minis, so they race.

:smile:

 

It seems to me that the action of pulling twice on the door handles to unlock the car is mechanical. I can't believe that won't work just because you pressed the lock button, my car is set to lock the doors above 10mph and all I need to do is two quick tugs on the handle and they're open.

Keith Hamburger

 

Just checked MINIUSA site. If you get in an accident the car will automatically unlock the doors, didn't say anything about locking yourself in though.

 

So if you're stuck in the car and you're on a hill, you can just put it in neutral, release the e-brake, and hope that you can pick up enough speed before you crash into something that the ECU interprets it as an "accident" and unlocks the doors.

Or break a window.

 

at least the windshields crack easy

 

That's why they give you the mystery jack in the S (the S doesn't have a spare tire).
It's used to break out the window if you get locked in.

Now that the 2003 cars come with the emergency boot release, I'm assuming you could get out through the boot should you become locked in the car.

It does seem weird that BMW would not allow the car to be unlocked from the inside, though. It should still have the immobiliser enabled but allow the doors to unlock if the unlock toggle switch were thrown.

See ya,
JS

 

What happens if you lock the car with the "remote" and the battery goes dead in the remote? Can it be opened with a spare key?

Thanks,
JS

 

Here's a page directly from the manual.... I made the warning red.

 

I think that you’re Mini just needed a little of fresh air.

 

Now see... Maybe I'm just a luddite, but I don't understand the necessity of making car locks so complicated. I'll admit to the utility of power locks which allow you to open all doors of a four door sedan simultaneously, but in a two door even that seems a little excessive. But keyless entry mainly just annoys me. And I really don't get why you would intentionally disable all internal locks when the clicker is used to lock it. So that after smashing your window a thief can't reach in and open the door?

 

Sorry guys (and gals), but getting locked in ones car so that the only way out is to break a window is UNACCEPTABLE!!!! I simply can't believe that this is the case, and if it IS, then MINI's got a major lawsuit waiting to happen (warning stickers aside), and a recall for reprogramming must definitely be in order.

I may be misinterpreting something here, so I'll check with my service dept as soon as they're open again on Monday. This is just too weird.

Phobol, did you have to break a window to get your girlfriend out? I'm serious, what happened?

 

i'm going to have to test this out. doesn't make sense at all. I always have to tell people to open the door twice after they find the door ****. That usually takes a minute anyhow.


Maybe your MINI loves you SO much that she doesn't want to let you go??